The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US state as of October 2019 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Czechia is the only EU state with an unemployment rate below three percent. Thirteen US states have a rate below three percent.
Findings
- The difference between the states with the lowest unemployment rate, Czechia and Vermont, and the state with the highest, Greece, is 14.50 percentage points (down from 14.80 last month and down from 16.80 last year). Czechia had the lowest rate last month and last year. Greece had the highest rate last month and last year.
- Greece has 7.59 times the unemployment rate that Czechia and Vermont do. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 8.05 last month and down from 9.00 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 5.35 (same as 5.35 the previous month and down from 5.70 last year) and the mean 5.92 (down from 5.93 the previous month and down from 6.35 last year).
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 3.40 (same as 3.40 last month and down from 3.70 last year) and the mean 3.55 (down from 3.56 the previous month and down from 3.69 last year).
- The median unemployment rate in the 78 EU and US states is 3.80 (same as 3.80 last month and down from 3.95 last year) and the mean 4.40 (down from 4.41 the previous month and down from 4.64 last year).
- Thirty-seven states (22 from the US and 15 from the EU) did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, 23 saw an improvement (16 from the US and 7 from the EU), and 18 saw their rate increase (12 from the US and 6 from the EU).
- Two states (2 from the US and 0 from the EU) did not see a change in their unemployment rate from last year, while 55 saw an improvement (31 from the US and 24 from the EU), and 21 saw their unemployment rate increase over the year (17 from the US and 4 from the EU).
Caveats
- Data is from October 2019 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from September 2019 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from August 2019 (previous month and year rates also reflect the respective one and two month delay).
- Data may conflict with previous month's report as statistical agencies make updates to the rates over the course of the month.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
In absolute terms, South Carolina had the greatest improvement over the previous month dropping 0.3 percentage points. Estonia had the biggest spike in its rate rising 0.4 percentage points. Year over year, Greece had the greatest improvement with a 2.2 percentage point drop while Mississippi had the greatest deterioration with a 0.8 percentage point rise.
In relative terms, South Carolina had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 10.34% drop in its rate while Estonia had the biggest deterioration with a 10.26% rise in its rate. Year over year, Colorado had the greatest improvement with a 27.78% drop in its rate while Mississippi had the greatest deterioration with a 17.02% rise in its rate.
Forty-two states (35 from the US and 7 from the EU) have an unemployment rate below four percent (down from 43 - 35 US, 8 EU - last month and up from 39 - 33 US, 6 EU - last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Thirty-two (15 from the US and 17 from the EU) have a rate between four and eight percent (up from 31 - 15 US, 16 EU - last month, down from 35 - 17 US, 18 EU - last year), and four (all from the EU) have a rate above eight percent (same as last month, same as last year - all from the EU).
South Carolina (from 10th lowest unemployment rate to 5th lowest), Georgia (from 32nd to 27th), and Michigan (from 51st to 46th) bested 5 states between last month and this month. On the other hand, Estonia (from 41st to 52nd) was bested by 11 states. Year-over-year, Alabama (from 35th to 11th) bested 24 states. Conversely, North Carolina (from 27th to 43rd) was bested by 16 states.
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed December 13, 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.
Eurostat. 2019. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed December 12, 2019. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_-59C1A7F0_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;S_ADJ,L,Z,0;AGE,L,Z,1;UNIT,L,Z,2;SEX,L,Z,3;INDICATORS,C,Z,4;&zSelection=DS-055624S_ADJ,SA;DS-055624UNIT,PC_ACT;DS-055624SEX,T;DS-055624AGE,TOTAL;DS-055624INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;&rankName1=UNIT_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=AGE_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName4=SEX_1_2_-1_2&rankName5=S-ADJ_1_2_-1_2&rankName6=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName7=GEO_1_2_0_1&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=NONE&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23.